Action Briefing Oct 2003 - Nov 2003
	The Newsletter of Birmingham Friends of the Earth

Blair and Bush in Brum: with strings attached

On Wednesday 10th September, the day the World Trade Organisation (WTO) began it's fifth Ministerial Conference in Cancún, Mexico, Birmingham Friends of the Earth donned corporate suits and Blair and Bush masks for a demonstration against the pernicious influence of big business lobbyists upon our "puppet PM" and America's "puppet Prez".

Undeterred by poor weather and lukewarm midweek press interest, we repeated the action in Coventry city centre on Saturday, with the help of Coventry Friends of the Earth.

By pushing for WTO rules that are more pro-business, profit-driven companies undermine the power of elected governments. Business wants free trade: easier access to markets in every country in the world. For ordinary people and their communities this has created a 'race to the bottom', where erosion of environmental standards, damage to wildlife and habitats, and job losses result as footloose corporations trade one nation’s policies off against another’s. Economic power is shifting away from government and the general public into the corporate boardrooms.

In the same week, Gordon Brown and Director of the Confederation of British Industry (CBI) Digby Jones were warning that union demands cannot be met within an increasingly competitive global market. But how long can we accept job cuts, privatisation, loss of democracy, global inequality and environmental damage, just to be more ‘competitive’, when this benefits only those at the very top?

The secretive and undemocratic WTO is cementing existing inequalities that favour rich countries over poor and promotes the interests of big business at the expense of people and their environment. The organisation is trading away the rights of consumers, farmers and indigenous peoples, along with democratic policy and decision-making at the local, national and multilateral level. The powerful industrialized countries within the WTO, as well as multinational corporations, are pushing for a broad expansion of the WTO’s scope to include even more areas of our daily lives and government operations.

Comprehensive information about the Ministerial, including publications and resources for journalists (including case studies and photos) will soon be available at www.foei.org/cancun

Theresa Haddon